Catching Insanity
by Shadow-The Black Queen
Summary: The laughter echoed off the steril white walls, child-like and insane. Insanity, the price she paid for her powers, was it worth it? The red hair danced in the flames, so close. Insanity was always on her side, a friend she never had to question.REVAMPING
1. First Breath of Insanity

**AN: Alright you get to decide if I continue with this story if I get five good reviews I'll continue with this story.**

The insane laughter echoed off the sterile white walls, the guards and visitors edged away from the cage that housed the laughing girl. She was wrapped in a straight jacket and the light from the high tiny window shone off her loosely curling flaming red hair; her smile was white and straight, and her eyes were a merry lime green.

"Chartreuse, really, please?" Wanda called from the neighboring cell.

"Sorry, Scarlet." Charlotte called over and attempted to quiet her hysterical laughter. She began playing with a set of small marbles, Wanda's brother Pietro had sent them but Wanda being well Wanda she hadn't wanted them, so she gave them to her best friend. Charlotte. They were perfect, one was a deep sapphire blue, one was scarlet, one was a chocolaty brown, and one was a vivid yellow-green.

"Hey, Char I don't think I've ever asked but that accent; where's it from?" Wanda asked leaning against the wall of her cell, knowing that in a second even through the stone of the wall she would feel her friends presence press the other side.

"Ummm, no where. I've been here for as long as I remember so its really a mix of every voice I've ever heard." The other girl said leaning up against the stone as Wanda knew she would.

"So where's your family now? I mean I've never seen anyone visit, not that that's saying much seeing as how my father and my twin brother dumped me in this place."

"Don't know. I was dumped here when I was too young to remember anything. The shrinks put me in the straight jacket because of my episodes, I mean this place is all I've ever known. Tell me about the outside." She begged her best friend who could hear tears welling in the other girls eyes.

"First, if you could wish for one thing right now, what would it be?" Wanda asked the other girl. She heard Charlotte give a watery little chuckle.

"I would wish for you to get out. This is all I've ever known, all I've ever seen. You, you belong out there; with your brother. How ever much you hate him, he's still your brother and that's a hell of a lot more than I have. You need the feel of rain on your face, to feel the wind through your hair. I've never know that, so I don't miss it; you do. For you to escape that is my wish." Tears welled in Wanda's eyes, and had either girl looked one cell over they would have seen tears welling in Pietro's eyes as well.

"My wish would be for both of us to get out, because on the outside I've got no one. I need you, so my wish is for both of us to get out; I want to show you the sun. See how your hair flames in the sunlight, I want both of us to feel the wind through our hair, I want to show you what life is like outside the bars of these cages." Wanda said, tears rolled freely over both girls faces as they leaned against each others backs through the concrete wall, and lay their heads on their knees.

"I'm so sorry Wanda. I can't get you out, but I may be able to do something almost as good." Pietro whispered, watching as the two girls cried together in separate cells. "Guard, is it possible for people to share rooms here?" The guard nodded, "can I talk to whomever is in charge of that?" He asked standing up. The guard nodded again and led Pietro away, but not before the silver haired boy blew a kiss towards his sister.

"Here you go girls," said a nurse dressed in white, as she unlocked the girls straight jackets, "this is your new room, someone pulled some strings for you. Behave now, and take your medicine." For the first time in living memory the girls swallowed the pills the doctors prescribed without complaint. As soon as the nurse left the girls ran to each other and gave each other a hug, they hugged each other and cried on each others shoulders. Pietro watched from down the hall.

"See ya' 'round sis." he said and then he was gone.

Through the following days the girls were inseparable, each month that went by saw the girls grow closer. The doctors were ecstatic they had finally found something that seemed to work at healing their patients scarred minds. Then Wanda disappeared, and Charlotte got worse.

"I got my wish," Charlotte said and began laughing her insane laughter, the only other sound that of her broken sobs. "I got my wish," and that was all she would ever say. She would sit on her bed and stare at the empty one Wanda left behind, her straight jacket had been replaced, her hair was lank, her eyes had regained that shine of insanity that they had had before Wanda had been transferred, and her laughter rang through the halls of the asylum at all hours of the day; if possible she had regressed to a state that even her top dose meds couldn't handle.

"We can't up her dosage anymore that could result in a fatality, but we need to do something. Do we have any sedatives that would do the job?" Charlotte heard the doctors saying under her laughter. Suddenly she stopped, making the doctors glance her way.

"I won't take anything else ya' know." she said, her voice dry and emotionless. The doctors were speechless, she hadn't said anything but 'I got my wish' in almost four months. "I won't do it, and the only way you can make me is to shove them down my throat, which is highly unlikely." The doctors were amazed she was thinking completely rationally. "Buh-Bye." She said softly then her gleaming chartreuse eyes, empty. The door to her cell blew away from her, she sat motionless on her bed as the guards came running to see what had happened. They found her just sitting on her bed still staring at her friends empty sheets.

"What happened here?" They asked her she just turned to them her eyes blank once more. "Jane, sweetie. What's wrong?" a sweet looking middle aged woman asked, gently following the guards.

"Wishes, Nursie wishes coming true." the girl said in that emotionless voice of hers. She knew this woman, she had cared for Charlotte when she was just a tiny child too young to form words into complete sentences. "My wish was for her to escape, hers for the both of us." The nurse pulled a syringe out of the pocket of her apron.

"Come on sweetie, there's nothing wrong with this place here. We all love you very much Charlotte, and we would never do anything to hurt you."

"Liar." Charlotte hissed, her voice still managing to be emotionless, "that's a naughty thing you did Nursie, you're not supposed to lie." suddenly Charlotte turned her eyes towards 'Nursie' the yellow-green meeting smoky blue. "You lie to me everyday, you say the pills will make me better, but they don't. You tell me my parents would come back when I was better, but they didn't. You told me that Wanda would come back, and she hasn't. Naughty, naughty Nursie." Charlotte taunted in a singsong voice. Then the laughter started, the laughter bubbling up from her throat ricochet off the walls the sound making the room spin. "Naughty, naughty Nursie. Naughty, naughty Nursie." she sang out and laughed harder. The guards and the nurses, fell one by one to the floor; out cold. "Nighty-night. Rock a bye and good night go to sleep my little baby!" She sang, her voice back to the childlike bell it had always been before. The sound was sweet, but to those who heard the old lullaby, well they could never tell they were out cold. Her laughter echoed up and down the hallways as she ran, long ago having been able to ditch the straight jacket. The white stone walls took on shifting colors and shapes as she passed, turning them into a crazy kaleidoscope.

As she took her first breath of free air, she smiled her laughter still ringing in her throat. She kissed the white, metal door leaving a smear of green though she wore no lipstick, and thirty seconds after she had left the door of the asylum behind, the ward where she had been held prisoner for her entire life went up in flames. left skipping through the old concrete jungle in the worst part of New York.


	2. Pain of Insanity

**Pain of Insanity**

Nothing made sense to Wanda Maximoff any more. Not the way her dear brother flinched away from her, nor the way certain people glared at her when she passed them in the hallways of Bayville High. Nothing. Every once in a while she thought she could hear a high pitched scream of laughter and every time she did she had a name caught at the tip of her tongue.

"Wanda, do you want to come to the mall with us? It'll be fun." Pietro asked poking his white haired head into her room.

"Sure I need more nail polish anyway. I'm out of patent leather black." Wanda replied to her twin grabbing her wallet as she left her room. As the Brotherhood minus Freddy hopped into Lance's jeep, something kept prickling at the back of Wanda's mind.

"Hey guys Kitty and a couple of the other X-geeks are gonna be at the mall. Lets just not have it escalate to a full fledged fight. Can you do that Pietro?" Lance said starting the jeep.

"I'll attempt it." Pietro said with a signature smirk. Wanda just nodded, for some reason she couldn't really remember why the X-men and the Brotherhood didn't get along real well, well that was understating it; they hated each other.

As soon as Pietro had helped Wanda out of the back of the jeep he disappeared to see how many birds he could catch with the famous (or infamous in some cases) Maximoff charm. Wanda just rolled her eyes after her brother and walked immediately to her favorite store and just picked up her nail polish deciding to spend the rest of the time at the mall just painting her nails and maybe getting the dye job on her hair redone.

"Wanda's like totally mellowed out." Kitty remarked to Lance as they passed her on their way to the food court.

"Yeah she has, it's actually really freaky. When Pietro flinches away from her expecting to get hexed she just looks confused."

"That's like totally bizarre, I wonder wh… Oh look! They have a sale at Aeropostale! Let's go!" Kitty changed courses so fast Lance could've sworn she was Pietro as he was pulled to the aforesaid sale. But his mind wasn't at the store it was on Kitty's unfinished sentence. Why? Why had Wanda changed so drastically? He couldn't think of the answer, he barely noticed when Kitty pecked his cheek and left, he didn't even notice the blank expression in Wanda's eyes. Pietro did though.

"Sis what's wrong?" Pietro asked wrapping his arm around his sisters shoulders.

"I'm not quite sure, just something I can't quite remember that's been bothering me is all." Wanda replied tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Pietro stiffened an infinitesimal amount and smiled tightly.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Wanda nodded staring off into space again.

"I guess so…" she trailed off but her voice was distant, not truly agreeing, just going with the flow. "But it feels weird, it's like there's a buzz at the back of my head. I can't get rid of it, and the weird thing is I really don't want it to go. Like it's a part of me, I want to hear it." Pietro looked really worried at that. She said goodnight and left them in favor of her nice soft bed, Pietro began to search something on the internet his fingers moving so fast they were a blur and his eyes skimming the results at a speed that made his eyes look like they were vibrating. And then he just stopped.

"Shit" Pietro breathed, "This is not good." He was glaring at an article from some little known news paper or another about a strange phenomenon that was moving across New York where a part at a time an entire city would black out and wake up swearing the last thing they had heard was a peal of high pitched laughter or in some cases a child-like voice singing snippets of nursery rhymes. Continuing to read related articles Pietro noticed many of the people who had blacked out had had laughing attacks for several days after and seemed to have gone temporarily insane. He wondered if the wondrous X-men were investigating.

**********

"Ahhhh!!! Tell me I'm not the only one hearin that!" Rogue yelled exasperatedly halfway though a danger room session covering her ears with her hands in an attempt to block out the sound. A high pitched ring had begun to filter through her head at the start of the session, growing louder with every second. Now it was so loud she was surprised she was still conscious... And sane. Kitty and Jean stopped when Rogue did, Kitty swaying on her feet pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stave off the headache, Jean on the other hand was kneeling on the ground clutching her head in agony, her eyes scrunched with the pain.

"Jean, Kitty, Rogue, what's wrong?" The Professors kind voice asked in worry at the behavior of three of his students.

"Like I don't know." Kitty said in a tight voice, "I don't feel right. I feel like there's lightning shooting through my head."

"Professor," Jean whimpered, "make it stop. I'm not sure how much more of this I can take." Rogue leaned against the wall as a wave of dizziness hit her.

"What's happening Professor?" Scott asked as he crouched down beside Jean.

"I'm not entirely sure Scott. I have never seen anything like this before, I cannot hear it. Even though I am inside Jean's mind I can't identify what the sound is."

"It sounds like a warning signal of some kind. My psyche's are all telling me to run, but when I ask from what no one answers." Rogue explained as yet another wave of dizziness hit her.

"A warning of some kind from the subconscious? I have never even heard of something such as this." Beast said as he descended from the observation deck to examine the three girls.

"I've been like getting these headaches like for the last couple of weeks, this one was just like the worst."

"Interesting. There doesn't seen to be anything wrong." Just as he said that Jean stood up, Rogue straightened from her slumped position against the wall, and Kitty let her hand fall, all of them were smiling.

"What happened?" Evan asked looking at the girls strangely.

"It's gone." Jean said with relief flooding her voice. "It felt like someone was ripping my head apart. And now it's gone, I never thought that feeling normal would feel so good."

"Cerebro hasn't picked up any mutation signatures so I can't tell you what happened. We'll just have to hope it doesn't happen again.

"I don't know Professor." Rogue commented, "It's like hitting yourself with a hammer, just to feel how good it is when you stop. It's actually pretty good to feel this way." The other girls agreed Kitty more readily than Jean but Jean did agree. That is when the Professor started to worry.

**A.N. Yeah sorry not much Charlotte in there, and not much explanation. Sorry again. Please Review, there not only what keeps me motivated but they make my day all that much better.**


	3. Insanity and Mayhem

Insanity and Mayhem

Special thanks to : Dholefire, TristeAlma, San child of the wolves, and wicked this way comes. The reviews and subscriptions keep me writing J

**The next morning the institute was a flurry of movement, people moved at rapid paces their eyes clouded and half lidded due to lack of sleep; Rogue, Kitty and Jean were bubbles of energy though. **

"**Rogue, you're usually not perky, especially not this early in the morning." The professor said the worry from last night still fresh in his mind.**

"**I'm alright Professor, I just feel… I dunno good this morning." The brunette answered flicking her white bangs away from her face.**

"**Like we're totally fine professor, but Rogue's right it just feels good this morning. If it's alright with you, Jean, Rogue and I are going to get to school early; I wanna like do my nails." While the three girls left the rest of the mansion looked on in wonder, not realizing until the girls were out of sight that they all wore cloths unusual for them, and all in the same eye smarting shade of lime green.**

***********

**Wanda sighed deeply, all the breath in her body leaving her lungs in a single '**_**whosh' .**_** She knew this bone deep exhaustion well but she couldn't place where she had felt it before, but she associated it with bright colors and anger . "Damn it, I do NOT want to deal with idiots today." she murmured to herself as she clasped her pulsing head in her hands.**

"**Figures, you never were one for patience, Scarlett." An amused voice said from somewhere, Wanda looked up in confusion, that voice was familiar. "Miss me?" In an instant Wanda was on her feet, arms wrapped around the other girls shoulders in a hug.**

"**Charlotte. Thank god you're okay." Wanda's eyes snapped wide open like she'd been in a trance.**

"**What could they have done to me Scarlett? I'm already insane." both girls began to giggle then to laugh, the hysterical laughter shaking the girls delicate frames.**

"**C'mon, grab a pair of jeans and a top and lets go already." Wanda said as she pushed her friend into her walk-in closet, "we are so not going to be late on your first day at school." They both began laughing at this again, seeing as how they were probably more intelligent than almost every single senior in that high school, and probably most of the teachers too.**

"**Hope you don't mind motorcycles, I 'borrowed' Gambit's." Charlotte said as she stepped out of the closet, the dark wash skinny jeans and a tight chartreuse cami covered by a black fish-net over shirt that clung around her fingers like gloves. The whole look was completed by the ankh earrings and the large silver cross with ruby accents that hung around her neck. "Thanks for having the green Scarlett, I look horrible in red."**

"**You look great Charlotte. Now let's go." The rest of the Brotherhood was still sleeping as the two girls ditched the house and just enjoyed the sun on their faces, and being reunited.**

**AN: yes charlotte's back, tell me what you think!!!! Yes I know it's short but if you guys could throw some ideas my way that would be GREAT! Thanks for reading, please review**


	4. Sight of Insanity

Kitty, Rogue, and Jean were sitting on a bench to one of the outdoor lunch tables when the rest of the institute pulled up in different cars, and when the soft purr of a motorcycle halted in the parking lot.

"Kitty, I love the colors but I think the scarlet looks better on me than the neon yellow." Rouge said as the boys walked up to them.

"Like no way Rogue! The yellow totally brings out the gold in your eyes." Kitty contradicted as she continued to paint the other girls nails, finishing each with a tiny diamond like stone in the center of a bright pink flower. Like a ton of bricks the realization of the girls choice of wardrobe fell onto the boys. Rogue was wearing light washed jeans that were artfully torn to show skin without allowing contact, a bright pink cami and sheer clingy over shirt, a wide green belt that hugged her hips on top of the shirts that matched the color of her Rocketdogs, and if that wasn't enough her hair was flipped into ponytail leaving her un-masked face shine through in all its natural beauty. Jean was wearing a sunshine yellow tank top over dark wash skinny jeans, which she expertly accented with a purple belt and yellow flip flops, her hair had been teased into curls that framed her face showcasing her brilliant eyes. And the icing on the cake was Kitty; she was wearing an electric blue skirt that ended just an inch or two above her knees, a bright green tank top, a hot-pink belt, and high-topped skater shoes, the whole look played up her face showing off her high cheekbones and big eyes.

"What are you staring at?" Jean asked lazily pulling out one of her ear-buds but still taping her vibrant nails along to the beat.

"Nothing." Scott said quickly looking away, reminding himself again and again that she had a boyfriend; her boyfriend albeit was a jerk… but still.

"Charlotte? Charlotte? HELLO earth to Charlotte?" a familiar voice drifted towards them.

"Sorry Wanda. Must have spaced off for a minute." an unfamiliar voice echoed back answering the first's worry with calm. Everyone looked around and most people gawked, their jaws hitting the ground. Wanda Maximoff was SMILING. And many of the boys eyes wouldn't leave the girl by her side, her hair was dancing like fire and hung down around her shoulders in a mixture of waves and tightly curling spirals, but the most captivating thing about her were her eyes. Bright green and piercing, they also seemed to be spinning slightly giving the illusion of endlessness.

"Oh lookie Scarlett!" The red head said in a hyper voice, "They think we're insane!" she began to laugh lightly, the sound like the chinking of glass.

"Calm down Chartreuse," Wanda said softly as they walked past the X-men's table.

"I can't there's too much energy, too much insanity." the other Chartreuse seemed to sigh while remaining hyper, she seemed to flitter her body moving constantly. She wouldn't stand still for more than two seconds, but it was long enough for the X-men to notice the bright green sun tattoo on her arm, strangest thing was though it seemed to pulse just slightly.


	5. Our Own

**Our Own**

The alarms on all of the X-mens communicators went off simultaneously, and they dashed from the school, not noticing in their hurry, two figures running ahead of them. When the X-men arrived at the 'crime scene' they looked at the massive scene of destruction and immediately went to take down the 'threat'.

"Stop." a sweet voice commanded, for some reason they all just stopped. The girl walked past them and towards the teenage boy who was staring at his blazing hands in horror. "Hi, they call me Mayhem. What's your name?" her voice was calm and kind, but something about her seemed to prick at the back of the x-men's minds.

"Mathew, pleased to meet you Mayhem." He said sticking his hand out for her to help him up. As she pulled him to his feet she glanced around seeing to try to locate something.

"Matt, you need to get this under control it doesn't do anyone any good to go on rampages." She said flipping a stray red curl behind her ear. Suddenly her control faltered and the X-men broke from her hold.

Cyclops immediately shot a beam at the girl. Mayhem just looked at the oncoming shot of power and raised one delicate eyebrow.

"Halt," the beam stopped, "Poof!" she whispered and then the power imploded sending out a shockwave back at the boy.

"That wasn't very nice ya' know." a little voice pouted from behind them. Startled the entire team turned around to see a little girl. White blonde curls hung out of her hood, her skin was alabaster pale that was made to seem paler by the hooded crème dress she wore. "You should be nicer." she continued to pout as she looked up to meet their eyes, most instinctively took a step back. There were no whites or irises to her eyes, they were black, no light shone from them. A slow smile crept onto the girls angelic features, and one by one the X-men dropped to the ground, asleep.

"Matt, try and keep control. I'm sure these people can help, when they wake up that is." The red-head said and held her hand out to the younger girl. "Come on Lullaby it's time to go home." the child, Lullaby, skipped towards the older girl.

"Mayhem? Can you sing them a lullaby before we leave?" Lullaby asked pulling her hood off to let her waist length curls hang free.

"Good idea, Lullaby.

_Hush a-bye and fall into sleep_

_Dream of times gone by_

_Memories spinning, time blurring by_

_Fall into sleep, fall into sleep_

_Don't you cry_"

The elder girls voice invaded the minds of the sleeping team, weaving it's melody into their dreams blurring their perception of time and melding their memories into dreams. Lullaby was clapping.

"That was beautiful Mayhem!" She said happily.

"C'mon home now." Mayhem said and turned to Matt. "Remember, there aren't many like us. If you need our help don't hesitate to ask."

"Yeah, we take care of our own." Lullaby said turning her eyes on Matt, her words betraying a knowledge far beyond her appearance. Matt saw Mayhem holding Lullaby as they were swallowed by blackness, then the sleep clawing at his mind claimed him, _we take care of our own_ still echoing in his ears.

**A.N. yes I know 2 updates in as many days shocking. Don't get used to it. I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas so any and all ideas you guys can give would be VERY WELCOME and by that I mean HELP OR YOU WILL WAIT WEEKS UPON WEEKS TO SEE THIS STORY UPDATED. Any way tell me what you think ****J **


	6. Eyes of Insanity

The pretty red-head was absentmindedly braiding a blonde girl's hair, humming a complex melody with the little girl joining in in a harmony just as difficult.

"Hi, I don't think we've ever met." Jean said as she greeted the fellow red-head.

"hey, the name's Charlotte and this is Arête."

"Hi!" the little blonde said tilting her head up so her sunglass covered eyes met the older girls. "Are you alone? You should never be alone at a park, Ciar says it's dangerous. Charlotte says its dangerous too." The little girl seemed lost in thought for a second and then her eyes lit up. "That's right, you can't be here alone. So who are you here with?" Jean was now thoroughly confused, this child was a walking oxymoron. She looked to be about six, which meant stumbling over her feet, nervousness around other people, and a natural curiosity; this child was none of those things, she was intelligent and showed no fear of Jean.

"Arête if you keep talking like that, she'll never get to answer your questions." Charlotte chided the younger girl, sounding like a mother.

"Sorry Charlotte. So will you answer my questions?" The little girl asked sweetly stopping her squirming to allow Charlotte to finish the long blonde braid.

"Well you were right it's not safe to be at a park alone so I'm here with my friends I just recognized Charlotte from school and wanted to introduce myself."

"Jean are you coming? We're going to play Frisbee." A tall boy said his eyes occluded by red glasses.

"I'm coming Scott. Well I'll see you around."

"Wait! Can Charlotte and I play too? Usually it's just us, so we can't have a really fun game! Please?! Can we Charlotte can we?" Arête was bouncing up and down in Charlotte's lap.

"Sure I'm sure the others would love to have you play." Jean said watching in amusement as the younger girl pulled the relatively calm Charlotte to her feet and took off towards where Scott had been.

"Remember to be careful about your glasses." Charlotte warned as the little girl let go of her hand.

"I know, I know. Be careful. I will I promise." She shot a dazzling smile at Charlotte. Charlotte just laughed, her eyes shining at the other girls antics.

"You sure she'll be ok? I mean my friends get really competitive." Jean admitted sheepishly.

"She'll be fine, I always watch out for Arête." Charlotte smiled and began to giggle. Her eyes flashed, "hey can you look out for Arête for a second? I swear I'll be right back."

"Yeah, no problem." Jean agreed, but her mind was elsewhere. _Why do they seem so familiar? I've only passed Charlotte a couple of times in the halls and I've never met Arête before but… gah!_ Jean clutched at her head in confusion, then shook off the feeling of being in a dream with difficulty. _Never mind, god I'm making my own head hurt, _she mused silently walking towards the group of Institute kids.

"Salut, mon ami." Charlotte greeted the Cajun as he rested against the trunk of a tree. "You should know by now, I know when people get close." she smiled strangely and motioned for him to talk.

"Din' know ya' were ici, je suis regarded ma Chere." the teen replied in his bayou accent.

"Just keep your distance, d'accord? I don't need her to have a second melt down." Charlotte told him, her eyes focused on the field where Arête was playing with the x-men.

"But elle est ma soeur! She was raised by de theieves jus' like I was." he said looking over towards the same spot.

"Yeah and then they tried to kill her not more than a week ago and I saved her. I DO NOT need a second breakdown! Do you under stand?" Remy nodded and went back to watching the Goth that sat beneath a tree reading.

"Oui, Remy understands. Don' mean I have to like it tho'" he replied and closed his eyes for a second, "non I don' have ta like anyting bout dem tieves anymo'" he sounded almost triumphant. He turned to look Charlotte in the eyes only to see she had disappeared, he sighed and went back to watching his chere.

"Charlotte catch!" Arête cried before anyone else had even noticed her arrival. The blonde threw the disc with surprising strength.

"Alright, here I go." Charlotte said taking a running leap at the disc that was now a good eight feet off the ground and catching it between her long fingers.

"Man you never let me have any fun," Arête complained as the older girl presented her the disk after landing on her feet without a sound.

"It's my job isn't it?" Charlotte teased.

"Wow, you two are like so close. It's soooo cute to see sisters getting along like so great." Kitty gushed and both girls stiffened at the word sisters.

"Charlotte's not my sister." Arête corrected the valley-girl in a cold whisper. "Family is undependable. They leave, Charlotte can't."

"Hush." Charlotte said to the other girl in a harsh whisper.

"Are we interrupting something between the x-dorks?" Pietro's voice mocked.

"Wanda? Make your brother shut up." Charlotte said, still in that same harsh tone that sounded wrong for her.

"Make me." he taunted again.

"If you insist. Arête? Could you please make him shut up?" a manic gleam had crept into Charlotte's green eyes.

"Sure thing Charlotte. If we can leave."

"Of course we can leave, you could have just asked." The red-head told the younger girl. Arête nodded and skipped toward Pietro removing her sunglasses as she went. She stopped right in front of the speed demon and looked him in the eyes, then replaced her sunglasses and skipped right back to Charlotte's side. The x-men didn't notice their departure in a black portal; their entire focus was now on the speed demon who was curled on the ground shaking, whimpering something that sounded like 'please don't, please no more.' A single thought echoed through the entire group _What did they do._

_**HELP!!!!!! I UPDATE WHEN I HAVE IDEAS AND I'M RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_


	7. Tale of Insanity

"Charlotte? Tell me a bedtime story?" Arête asked softly her head nestled into a soft fluffy pillow.

"Alright I'll tell you a true story. Once upon a time not to long ago, there was a little girl who didn't know her name, she had no friends and no family. The only thing she knew was a cold white cell, and the scary people who visited her everyday. The scary people would ask her how she was feeling poke at her and stick her with needles then move on down the empty, white hall. The only thing she had to occupy her mind were her own thoughts and the stories she told herself; wonderful, fantastic stories, full of adventure and freedom. She'd tell herself stories about things she'd never experienced before like the stars in the night sky and the feel of the sun on her face. She was lonely so se'd tell herself stories about having a friend to play with. And she did, his name was Ciar. He would only come at night but they would play for hours, the little girl became nocturnal to play with her one and only friend. Ciar would tell her stories like the ones she told herself. Ciar would tell her stories about gods and goddesses, of ancient wars, and prophecies most people had long forgotten. Ciar would tell her nursery rhymes, he would hug her and comfort her when she cried, and every morning Ciar would sing her to sleep with a lullaby." Charlotte trailed off, her eyes closed her body swaying to an imagined beat, as if she was a storyteller of old. "One day Ciar told her that he could always be with her, if she wanted. She immediately accepted jubilant at the idea that her friend would never have to leave, but just before he could tell her more the door to the cold, white hallway opened spilling light onto the girl. The light temporarily blinded her and by the time she could see again the door had closed with a very final slam. The girl wanted to be very angry, but instead she cried because her friend had left and there was no one to sing her a lullaby tonight." Charlotte opened her eyes and looked at Arête with a small smile and smoothed the coverlet gently. "But the next morning she woke up to the sound of another voice, a second girl had joined her in her hallway. The two girls became friends but the first little girl would always wait up at night to see Ciar, and after a while Ciar again offered to never leave his little companion. He said there were only two things she should take into account, one that she would have powers slowly emerge as he became one with her, and the second was the only drawback, the little girl would go insane. Still without a trace of hesitation the little girl agreed and Ciar never left her side again, and when the little girl cried after her friend in the cell next door disappeared and left her in the dark again. She always talked to Ciar, and he never left her.

And that my little Lullaby is where our tale tonight will end. Goodnight Arête." Charlotte said flipping off the lights in Arête's room, the girl was already asleep her pale blond hair splayed like a halo around her head.

_No, Ciar never left the little girls side, and he never will. Will you Ciar? _Charlotte asked the shadow who resided in her mind. Her shadow grew and stood, a Cheshire smile splitting its lips.

"_No, my dear little Mayhem. I won't ever leave."_


End file.
